Techniques for determining ultrasound probe motion
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsPeter William Lorraine, David Andrew Shoudy, Asha Singanamalli
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to extraction of probe motion estimates from acquired ultrasound image frames. Such image-extracted probe motion data can be used alone or in combination with sensed motion data, such as acquired using an inertial measurement unit (IMU). In certain implementations, the image-extracted probe motion can be used to provide or maintain anatomic context in a sequence of images or to provide guidance to a user.
Claims20
A method for estimating motion of an ultrasound probe, comprising the steps of:
- acquiring a sequence of ultrasound images while moving the ultrasound probe relative to an imaged volume;
- for the ultrasound images of the sequence acquired at different time intervals, extracting motion data of the ultrasound probe from the respective changes across the ultrasound images of the sequence;
- acquiring sensed motion data from one or more motion sensors while acquiring the sequence of ultrasound images;
- localizing a current probe position with respect to the other images in the sequence and internal anatomy of a patient based on both the motion data and the sensed motion data;
- and
- providing feedback to a user conveying information regarding the motion of the ultrasound probe based on both the motion data and the sensed motion data, wherein the feedback comprises labeling of a feature of interest that is preserved between ultrasound images of the sequence.
A method for processing a sequence of ultrasound images, comprising the steps of:
- acquiring the sequence of ultrasound images while moving an ultrasound probe relative to an imaged volume;
- identifying one or more features of interest in multiple ultrasound images of the sequence;
- extracting motion data of the ultrasound probe from the sequence of ultrasound images;
- acquiring sensed motion data from one or more motion sensors while acquiring the sequence of ultrasound images;
- localizing a current probe position with respect to the other images in the sequence and internal anatomy of a patient based on both the motion data and the sensed motion data;
- and
- providing feedback conveying information regarding the motion of the ultrasound probe based on both the motion data and the sensed motion data, wherein the feedback comprises labeling of the one or more features of interest that is preserved between ultrasound images of the sequence.
An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:
- an ultrasound probe;
- a monitor comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the processor is communicatively coupled to the ultrasound probe and is configured to:
- generate a sequence of ultrasound images from ultrasound data acquired while the ultrasound probe is moved relative to an imaged volume;
- extract motion data of the ultrasound probe from the respective changes across the ultrasound images of the sequence;
- and
- provide feedback to a user conveying information regarding the motion of the ultrasound probe derived using the motion data, wherein the feedback comprises labeling of a feature of interest that is preserved between ultrasound images of the sequence based on the motion data.
The ultrasound imaging system of 17, wherein the feedback comprises displaying the labeling of the feature of interest in one or more ultrasound images of the sequence of ultrasound images where the feature of interest is not discernable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.